Page 19 of Dark Truth

“Look, I was dick.” He swiped a hand over his mouth and looked away before he pinned those gray eyes so like Emily’s on me. It was a family trait then.

It was a little disconcerting, but I was getting used to it now. Time to focus on what the man had to say.

“I can never make it up to Emily, what I did to her, but I can say I’m sorry to you, Dylan. I’ve talked with her, and well, I did you wrong, man. Sorry about that. Can we be friends, for my sister’s sake?”

His eyes said he’d punch me if I didn’t agree, and that was good with me. I was there for Emily, and for once the man seemed to be thinking of her too. That was real good.

“No worries, Trent. Emily’s all that matters in this. I’m glad you reached out to her.” I didn’t want to rub it in his face that he’d caved, but I wanted him to know he had caused all of this. To be fair, he’d just admitted as much.

“I am too. It was Jessi who finally knocked some sense into me. My wife is something else, I got to tell you.” He shook his head ruefully and smiled. “She’s great. You taking that to Emily?”

He pointed at the juice, and I nodded. “Yeah, let me get this to her. Great talking to you.”

I liked that we didn’t have to go over everything for an hour, just a few sentences and the bridges that had been burned were suddenly replaced with new ones. Good. Emily deserved some peace, after the time she had. She might need this love if, when, my illness finally took hold.

Hopefully, that would be a long time from now, but there was no guarantee. It was possible she might end up on her own, and I knew, from the love her family had finally realized she needed, that she would be taken care of. She might not be okay if something happened to me, but she would be taken care of.

Suddenly, my arms were filled with warm, wiggly baby goodness, and I stared down into its little eyes. They were wise eyes, curious, and his little tongue curled around his open mouth before he grinned up at me. I assumed it was a boy anyway; the baby was dressed in blue.

“Can you please take him for a second? I need the bathroom so bad,” Jessi rushed by me, her perfume the only hint that she’d only been there a second ago.

I stood there, trying to make sure the little guy didn’t wiggle out of my arms. I was certain I would drop him, so I sank down in the now empty hallway and held him close to my chest. “Don’t you dare fall, little guy. I’ll never live it down. I’m sure your aunty would scream at me too.”

He just wiggled his head around and grinned again. I decided it wasn’t so bad. He smelled clean, what people called baby smell. Lotion and soap, I guessed, I didn’t know; I’d heard it in passing somewhere along the way.

It was one of those profound moments that you don’t know is happening until after. I was a grown man, yet, I’d never held a baby. A tiny little person who was totally helpless and needed love and nurturing from the grownups around him. He was … awesome.

“What are you doing in the hallway, Dylan?” I heard Emily’s voice and looked up. She glanced down and saw the baby in my arms.

“You’ve got Harry, I see.” She had this smile on her face, one that was filled with wonder. “You look. Um. Wow, you’re good at that. He’s actually smiling.”

She sank down beside me, her black leggings and loose blue silk shirt a softness at my side. She didn’t take the baby, or even offer to take him. She just watched.

I wanted to say, don’t go getting ideas, because I could see it on her face that she was, but something stopped me. Would it be so bad, having something as incredible as this in our lives? I looked at her and could feel how wide my eyes were.

Fucking hell, have I gone over the edge that far for this woman? I gazed into her eyes and knew I might have.

I held the baby and watched him, Emily silent beside me, until his mother came back and took him from me. Little Harry was gone, and so was his tiny little warmth and that heavy but light sensation I’d felt with him in my arms. I sat there for a moment and just took it in.

“You okay?” Emily asked, and I looked at her.

“Of course. Just thinking. You have a bigger family than I realized.” I took her hand, and we stood up together.

“Is it scary?”

“No, just a surprise that’s all.” I looked around at the women and men gathered in the room, little ones who were old enough in the floor playing. It wasn’t anything like I’d expected at all.

I’d expected immaculate coldness and quiet children who sat in chairs against the wall as the grownups spoke. The idea of a rich family that showed up in so many. Impersonal, uncaring, cold. Not this warmth and sprawl that ignored messy pillows on the couch and a spill of crayons all over the floor.

I think I might grow to like this.

Dylan

I still didn’t trust the bastard. Trent had nearly broken Emily’s heart, and I just couldn’t say that I could trust someone with little more than an apology as a gesture of reconciliation. He was her brother, she wanted to trust him, but that didn’t mean I’d ever look at him without distrust in my heart.

“I’m going to lie down for a bit,” Emily said when we walked into the penthouse. I knew her family time had worn her out, so I didn’t protest. Right now, I thought I could use some alone time.

It had been astonishing how much noise could come from family gatherings. Even when my birth parents were alive, we’d never had gatherings like that. My mother was far too unstable even to consider it. She’d wrecked family dinners over the smallest things: a bug that flew by that told her we’d poisoned her food, or a speck of dust that she thought might be poison my father had put in mine.